Real world data on clinical profile, management and outcomes of venous thromboembolism from a tertiary care centre in India

ABSTRACT Objectives Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. This study describes a real-world scenario of VTE presenting to a tertiary care hospital in India. Methods All patients presenting with acute VTE or associated complications from January 2017 to January 2020 were included in the study. Results A total of 330 patient admissions related to VTE were included over 3 years, of which 303 had an acute episode of VTE. The median age was 50 years (IQR 38-64); 30% of patients were younger than 40 years of age. Only 24% of patients had provoked VTE with recent surgery (56%) and malignancy (16%) being the commonest risk factors. VTE manifested as isolated DVT (56%), isolated pulmonary embolism (PE; 19.1%), combined DVT/PE (22.4%), and upper limb DVT (2.3%). Patients with PE (n=126) were classified as low-risk (15%), intermediate-risk (55%) and high-risk (29%). Reperfusion therapy was performed for 15.7 % of patients with intermediate-risk and 75.6% with high-risk PE. In-hospital mortality for the entire cohort was 8.9%; 35% for high-risk PE and 11% for intermediate-risk PE. On multivariate analysis, the presence of active malignancy (OR=5.8; 95% CI: 1.1-30.8, p=0.038) and high-risk PE (OR=4.8; 95% CI: 1.6-14.9, p=0.006) were found to be independent predictors of mortality. Conclusion Our data provides real-world perspectives on the demographic sand management of patients presenting with acute VTE in a referral hospital setting. We observed relatively high mortality for intermediate-risk PE, necessitating better subclassification of this group to identify candidates for more aggressive approaches.